Ichabod explores the Age of Apostasy, predicted in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, with an emphasis on UOJ, Church Growth, and Emergent Church heresies. The antidote to these poisons is trusting the efficacious Word in the Means of Grace. John 16:8. Most readers are WELS, LCMS, ELS, or ELCA. This blog also covers the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, and the mainline denominations.

I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 2:1-4

Thursday, June 2, 2016

Earlier I wrote about the benefits that accumulate from proper treatment of the soil:

Not rototilling, double-digging, and not moving soil up, over, and around too much.

Not using pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides.

Applying mulches of organic materials.

Adding red wiggler earthworms.

Similar benefits accrue from Creation gardening efforts. That makes sense, since the Creator made, engineered, and continues to manage all life according to a divinely intricate plan, one truly beyond all human comprehension.

Every single living entity eats and is eaten. Whatever creature we happen to hate - whether spiders or beetles or moles - they have a purpose in the ecosystem.

Norma Boeckler's Bluebird.

By attracting birds to the yard with food, I obtained plants that birds love - such as pokeweed, which grows everywhere and sprouts berries the birds alone can eat. By adding mulch, earthworms, and water when needed, I created a perfect landing zone for wild strawberry seeds. The birds were attracted to the initial supply and added to the future supply.

Leaving areas wild meant that I had buzzing, bouncing, crazy insect supplies that fed birds, toads, and other pest-eaters, like web spiders, beetles, and cursorial spiders.

The chemical answer is to spray down the yard, which kills all the pests and the pest-eaters. Did God design that answer? No. Instead, without asking - I found myself with big, fat toads in the yard, enjoying the food concentrations and shade of logs I placed and shallow water dishes I distributed. A toad will eat thousands of pests in one summer.

The birds now have a lot more plants providing food for them, such as all the berries that are fruiting now, so they enjoy the fruit and eat the bugs as well. Since birds share with other types of birds but not so much with their own kind, we have quite a few to enjoy. Those that flock and feed, like the starlings and grackles, do a fine job of cleaning up pests from the soil.

The soil can build up a given population of soil creatures, based on weather, organic matter, and moisture. Because God engineered them to balance one another, no yard will have all earthworms or all bacteria or all protozoa in the soil

Likewise, the rest of Creation will flourish up to the ability of the area to sustain it. Excess ladybugs will go off to find food elsewhere. Excess aphids will invite Flower Flies and Tachinids to enjoy them as food for their babies.

The management of all created life is just as stupendous as the engineering. Man's best rototiller will tear up the sod, break the gas line, and puncture the water supply in its mechanical rage. God's little plowman, the earthworm, will grow in numbers - attracting predators - and leave the soil far better than it was before. In Creation this continues without man's anxious thoughts. But if someone is wise about Creation, little adjustments can tilt the entire ecosphere above and below ground to prosper with little labor and even less cost.

Efficacy of the Word

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About the Author

Gregory L. Jackson is an independent Lutheran pastor, with degrees from Augustana College, Illinois; Waterloo Seminary, Ontario; Yale University; Notre Dame; and the University of Phoenix. He has been married to Christina for 40 years. Their beloved daughters Bethany and Erin Joy are with Christ. Their son Martin is married to Tammy, blessing them with three delightful grandchildren.